I am back on the site, and I remember how much I appreciated a place to check in everyday. I hope other poeple out there will join me, so we can establish a great personal motivational network.

Laura

So glad your back!
I'm in an almost insanely good mood today, I think because had such a crap day yesterday. I felt awefull, ate like a pig, mostly OP but consoled myself with a table spoon (or 2) of peanut butter, and didn't exercize.
So today I feel 100 times better and I went on the treadmill for a whole hour! I'm so proud. I'm realy aiming for at least 4 days a week this month.

So I am going to start. I am coming back to dieting at the same weight I was when I left in December - so good for me for staying put. My plan this time around is a little bit strategy from different diets - it will be lo carb, but also calorie counting. I used to have a complete hate on for calorie counting, but I need some organization in my life, so this may be it. I want to keep track of my water, calories, exercise, and my medications.

I can do this, it just involves focussing not so much on every little morsel of food, but focussing on the writing down of each morsel.

1st mini goal - 286 - 50 lbs down in total.

yay me.

Punze - good for you for exercising today. I am so glad to be back, and that you are still here. I really appreciated having a buddy to bounce things of of. Thanks.

Hi gals,
I'd like to join in also. I don't have a ton of time but I think accountability is so very important.

I've been low-carb'in it for about 2 weeks now. It feels good. I felt I needed to change things up a bit as my weight loss was really slow. I had been doing calorie counting at about 150-200 carbs/1600 calories a day and now I'm down to 40 carbs/day but still tracking calories - just not being too anal about the actual number of calories.

I would really like to bag on the exercise today but I didn't go yesterday and I like the rule of not missing 2 days in a row so I will go....but first I have to watch Y&R! Then I promise.....I will change clothes and head into the gym. I promise, I promise, I promise!

welcome Kris! Did you get your exercise in?

I absolutely blew yesterday out of the water. I ATE! I did really well in the am, but blew it at supper. I did get some exercise in - I did 3km on my elliptical machine. Ok, so it sounds impressive, but really it's only 12 min of exercise. Well, it's 12 min more than I did the day before. I am going to try super hard today = it should be easier this evening because I have to DJ a school dance and there won't be any opportunity to eat while I'm there. If I go to bed as soon as I get home from unloading my equipment, I should be able to avoid the nighttime munchies... I hope!

Punce: hope all is well with you. Are you getting enough water?

Talk to you guys later!

HI I would like to join for the daily motivation.... What plans are you guys following? I was on a low fat high fibre plan but was contantly craving for sweet and stuff. I am currently folllowing the CA plan (Carbohydrate Addicts Diet) which works great for me. Up to date 1kg lost (2.02lb’s) I know it is a bit slow but that is without any exercising. The fact that I have a reward meal everyday which include some carbs make this plan for me something that I can make a way of life and not just a diet to loose the weight

Hi all,
I did get my exercise in. I really didn't want to go but once I got there, I got the 'click' and did 2x20 minute HIIT and 30 minutes of strength training. Felt VERY good when I walked out of the center!

Good job on the elliptical, Laura.

I'm not exactly on a 'plan'....I'm just keeping my 'carbs less fiber' to about 40. My fat consumption is high (60-70%), carbs at or below 10%, and protein the rest. I'll be watching and adjusting as the weeks go by.

Am planning to purchase that book Good Calorie/Bad Calorie by Gary Taubes (I think) today and learn more about low-carb. I've done Atkins before, and although I'm not hungry following this plan, I didn't really follow it as it was outlined. This time I'm willing to make it a life change - not a temporary diet.

Hi Kris and Snoekie!

I'm following Atkins.

Good Calorie/Bad Calorie by Gary Taubes, I want to get this one too.

Way to go Kris! The hardest part of exercising for me is just making my self get started. But I sure feel great when I do.

Laura, even if you went for 12 min, that is great ! Most days I can't even convince myself to step onto the tredmill.

Have fun at the dance! I've always thought that would be a fun job.

I got all my water in yesterday, the exercize makes me thirsty, normaly I realy struggle to get it all down. I'm trying to cut out the coffee but it is so hard, I drink more water if I skipp my coffee in the morning. I think I'll switch to tea, at least tea is better for you and I put way to much cream in my coffee, but I like tea without it.
TTYL.

Fantastic! Thats how I'm looking at it too!

Snoekie!
Don`t worry about slow - just keep doing it. 2.2 lbs (1kg) is a fantastic start. It`s more important to ingrain those healthy changes at the beginning so losing the rest doesn`t seem like so much of a struggle.

I am trying to do Atkins - it works for me because not only do I lose the weight, but my blood sugar stabilizes as well. I say trying, because I have fallen off the wagon, and am finding it extremely hard to get back on - right now I seem to be about 2 km behind, tracking it through the dust, still LOOKING for the darned wagon, never mind jumping back on it!

So, I am trying to limit my carbs, drink my water, exercise, and I am writing down EVERYTHING. Writing it all down is the hardest for me - I hate being held accountable, even if it`s just to myself. I kind of feel like - why should I have to justify what I eat if no one else does (``no one else`` does not apply to the people on this site)

Punce: something I read recently about tea - we all know green tea is good for weight loss, but chamomile also increases metabolism about 3%, without all the caffiene of coffee. But if you really need your coffee, drinking it without sugar after a workout can help keep your metabolism high for longer than exercise alone - free calorie burn!

Kris: good for you for going to the gym - I love it when I get there, so why is it so hard to go ( I would love to be able to insert a question mark after asking a question, but for some reason all I am getting is this character - É - somehow the language or function button on my keyboard is messed up, and I am not sure how to fix it...) Anyways - what is HIIT it sounds interesting.

HIIT is High Intensity Interval Training. 20 minutes of exercise at high intensity. According to some studies, it is more effective than a 'long slow burn' type cardio as you continue burning calories up to 24 hours post exercise. I do 2 minutes of warm up then 4 minutes of increasing intensity (every minute I increase speed or level) then back down for 1 minute then 4 more increasing minutes. You do 4 rounds and then a 2 minute cool down. Does that make sense?

When I started, I would just do 30 second intervals, then I worked up to 60 second intervals and now I do the 4 minute 'climbs'.

As I really don't like cardio, especially being on a machine for an hour, I find it a good way to get my cardio in. And, I typically do 2 sessions back to back - just on different machines so that I actually get 40 minutes in.

Hallo you all! At last it is Friday….. Weekend just around the corner. You guys are really an inspiration with the exercising I am starting to feel left behind – perhaps if I give it a try it will boost the weight loss a bit – the only problem is I stay on a farm and don’t have access to a gym. I also get home a bit late in the afternoon and for safety reasons can’t go on a long walk in the evening. BUT I do have a Fitness flyer at home. In the past it felt like I am wasting my time because it does not feel like you are getting a really good work-out on it at all. But I guess it is better than doing nothing at all!!!!

I am going to meet my sister tomorrow at a restaurant for breakfast (she is on a low fat, high fibre, low proteïen diet – totally the opposite from what I am doing but I guess you do what works best for you. I do think I really have more nice things to eat for breakfast…… beacon, eggs, sausage, cheese etc, etc, etc.

You guys must have a nice weekend. I will report back on Monday about the exercising…….

Kris - thanks for the explanation. Yes it made sense - and it makes sense. I thnk I may try it....
I did really well calorie wise today, but still made horrible choices. Oh well, one battle at a time.
Gotta run, I'll check back in the afternoon.
Hope everyone is doing their best!

Everythings going good so far today, Water, food, exercize, all on track.

Made it through another hour on the treadmill. I do short intervals of running but only 1 or 2 min at a time and only 3 or 4 during an hour. I'm trying to work up to more frequent and longer intervals, focusing on keeping my heart rate above 150 for the hour.

Beautiful day, have a good one.